THE CHURCHES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15557, 6 March 1911, Page 10

THE CHURCHES.

Fifty-five new missionaries (twentvrivo men and thirty women) were aclopted by the Church Missionary Socity during 1910, as compared with Jxty-ono (thirty-one men and thirty .omen) in 1909. ’Die number of Canidatos accepted for probationary raining fell from fifty-one to thirtv-

General Booth addressed three largc,y attended meetings in Belfast in <anuary. Ho stated that the Salvation army was on the eve of finding out ,ome method by which it could deal .nore effectively with criminals. He ..as in correspondence and conference ith permanent officials of the Governnent as to how this work of reclamation could best be done, and he was ,-ery hopeful of tlie results.

“Man’s Redemption of Man,” a long sermon delivered in .Edinburgh by william Osier at a service for the students of the University in connection with the meeting of the National Association for the prevention of tuberculosis, lias been preserved in a stoutlyuound pocket edition, published by Messrs Constable and Co. The address tells how science has opened the doors of knowledgo of the laws ot Health and disease, and treats principally of man’s redemption of man in die abolition and prevention of diseases.

“ A Book of Sacred Verse,” compiled and edited by William Angus Knight, has just been published. It is meant, he says, not “for public use in church or chapel, but as a literary work for private reading and study.” This is the right idea ? says an exchange, both for wlmt it gives and lor what it excludes. It is not too much to say that the majority of the hymns in any of the popular collections are of little literary merit; yet many of these are quite suitable for the purpose to be served by their inclusion. The thing wanted is to stir the heart; and the I:cart is often stirred by words that cannot be described as literature. Take the songs that “ caught hold ” in popular movements, and you will find that for the most part they are not poetry. Some, too, of the best poems in our hymn-books are not really suited for singing, at least for congregational singing. !< Lead, Kindly Light,” for instance, might be adequately rendered by a single voice of j;reat power of expression, but as we •ommonly hear it there is something that jars. Of course it has a place here, and we can enjoy it without drawback. Professor Knight goes back to a quite early date—-his first author is Richard Roll© (1290-1319). This and the other early poems are modernised in form. It is interesting to observe that we have very little earlier than the seventeenth century, about twenty pieces in a.ll; that the seventeenth contributes a little more than forty—it is not easy to fix the limits exactly; that the eighteenth, which begins with Addison and Watts, claims about sixty; and that the nineteenth gives us more than all the others put together. The list of authors is headed by Charle? Wesley with seventeen, Janies Montgomery has fourteen, F. . Faber tail, H. F.” Lyto eight. Sir John Bowring seven and Isaac Yi’atts six.

Owing to the development of the work of the Sydney Young Women’s Christian Association, it has been found necessary to add another worker tc the staff Miss Griffin, M.A., of New Zealand University, late science nistress in the Auckland Girls’ Grammar School, arrived in Sydney last sk, and has taken up work in the .ssociation.

Tn response to the appeal of the ■Sydney committee of the Iliblo tercenaiiary celebrations for a 1611 edition f the authorised version, Mr Well, of fladesvillo, has lent an interesting id volume. The book has been raound, and the New Testament is lated 1611, while the Old Testament i of still earlier date. The original lasps of one part of the book aro still sed. The committeo intends to exibit the Bible at the celebrations, ind in the meantime it is hoped that ! complete 1611 copy will be forthcoming. Dr Campbell Morgan is contributing to the Chicago “Advance” a .series of discourses on Genesis, and in the first, based on the words “ In the Beginning,” lie touches in a very interesting way on the question of evolution, and clearly suggests that ho accepts the evolutionary process as God's method. “ What,” asks Dr Morgan, “is your particular theory :if t lie origin of things in the midst of which you live? Do you believe till that this universe came into being suddenly; that God, by some mdden, immediate act, marie everything as you find it? 1 dismiss that is being utterly out of harmony with lie first chanter of Genesis. Or do you say, 1 have been compelled to the iccepcanee of what is known as the evolutionary theory? Then remember lint the evolutionary theory, postulates perpetual beginnings. What in its last product? Its last product is something self-evident. Whence came t ? It is the product of something lower. Whence ea*ne that.? From iomcching lower still. Whence came that? From something still lower. In each case there was a new beginning; ei.il it differentiation if you will. It .vas a new start, a fresh .development, a coming of the new out of the old. Trace this process hack and back, and where will von end? Thirty years ago the scientist would have told you in die primordial protoplasmic germ. The scientist now says. Nothing of the kind; ho whispers electrons, and then speaks of a psychological fact beyond. The scientist, with honest integrity and splendid heroism tracking his way back, finds ever a beginning proceeding out of something which also had a beginning, until at last lie arrives ■where there is no place on which to step off ; his last word has been said, and, beyond, the scientist of to-day tells us no hears whispers, thunders of mind, and is conscious of psychological mysteries.” All that science has discovered. adds Dr Morgan, is the method of God.

The position of the Free Churches is liscussed in the "Daily Chroniclo ” by “ F.A.A.,” and n series of letters from correspondents approves what he says. Ho declares that the Free Churches “are not losing power, but there is certainly aii arrest of progress. It is not so alarming ns some panic-stricken pessimists would have us believe, and it is rot very difficult to explain. .Moreover, it is an unquestionable fact that hero is more real, practical applied Christianity in England to-day than at my former period. Perhaps the two

;roatesfc perils of the ministry to-day

re intellectual arrogance and the treadling, of an emasculated Gospel, the great masses of the people take no nterest in theological discussions, but hey do want to know how to lire a ’'eon, brave, serviceable life; they are

'ager to find out, how to recover 'their 'pat ideals.. The minister who delivers political and literary essays at once enters into competition with expert. writers in books and newspapers —and it is no wonder if his people •tay at hoipo and take down from their shelves some greater authority. Let him give his hearers what they can get nowhere else—the gospel of a crucified, risen, living Christ—the only bv'pd with a great dynamic force

vh'cb -an reclaim and remake lost men. T submit what we need is not a restatement of doctrine, but a recovery of spiritual power. I agree with Mr Harold Bcgbie that Christianity is not a DhilosOL'hy. but u living

force performing visible miracles—that while Christianity, in {he pulpit, is too often cither an explanation or an apology, it should never bo anything but an invitation and a challenge. The Church that is evangelistic and inven- ’ live and daring is not played out. It’ has not lost its grip of the world. It is still the homo of faithful, courage-! oua souls, eager lor high endeavour : and self-sacrificing service. The dancrer of the Church is not a temporary drop in numbers—wliat we have to fear and guard against is an emasou- j lated faith, an unwholesome introspection. a wicked slovenliness.”